


Travelling in Opposite Directions

by TerraYoung



Series: Short Stories from the Waverider [8]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Autistic Ray Palmer, F/M, Near-Death for a major character in pt. 5, POV Second Person, Sensory overload in pt. 4, other legends are mentioned but don't appear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-01 23:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14532135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraYoung/pseuds/TerraYoung
Summary: Five times Ray and Nora met out of order, plus the one time their timelines were finally in sync.





	Travelling in Opposite Directions

1:

 

"Hey, Nora!" You call, smile spreading across your face. "What's up?"

Nora goes from calm to angry so fast it makes your head spin. She storms up and slaps you. Your hand comes up to cradle your cheek. 

"What was that for?"

"For nearly  _dying_  on me, you - you idiot!" Nora shouts. 

You drop your hand. "I'm sorry, what? Is this more sarcasm? 'Cause I'm really not good at detecting that, BTW."

Nora furrows her eyebrows. "No, I'm talking about what happened the last time we saw each other."

"During the whole battle with Mallus? But I didn't even get hurt then - well, besides a couple of scrapes and bruises."

"That's not the last time  _I_  saw  _you_ ," Nora says. "We're both time-traveling, but we're traveling separately so our timelines aren't in-sync. Means we're meeting out of order. I shouldn't have assumed we were in-sync this time, but..."

"So, we're like the Doctor and River!" You say.

"...Who?"

"Exactly!"

Nora rolls her eyes, but there's a hint of a smile on her face. 

You smile back. "Remind me to get you to watch Doctor Who sometime, okay? It's one of my favorite tv shows ever." 

"It  _must_  be a classic, then," Nora drawls. 

"It is, actual-"

" _That_  was sarcasm."

"Ah. Never mind, then."

Nora softens. "Fine. Tell me about it next time."

" _Your_  next time or  _my_  next time?" You ask. 

"Whichever."

 

 

2:

 

You make it about five seconds on your own in 1950s Chicago before someone drags you into a dark alley. Your eyes adjust to the gloom fairly quickly, revealing that Nora's the one who caught you. You open your mouth to ask her what she's doing, but she presses a hand over your lips. Nora holds up a finger on her free hand. 

Police officers run by, yelling something about a thief and a grocery store. Nora lets you go only when their cries have long since faded away. 

"What was  _that_  about?" You hiss. 

Nora smirks. Your heart skips a beat, but she starts talking before you can think about that. "I stole some food. They weren't too happy about it, and probably would've pegged you as my accomplice."

"You stole some food? Why'd you do that?"

"I don't stay in one place or time long enough to earn money. And since I don't have a fancy replicator to _make_  food  _for_  me..."

You smile despite yourself. "Fine, fair enough."

" _You're_  permitting me to steal?" Nora mock gasps. "The world must be ending!"

"Or maybe you're just a bad influence on me," you tease. "But, nah. Long as you're not doing it to hurt people and  _would_  pay if you could... I get it."

"I'm a bad influence on you, you're a good influence on me -" if you didn't know better, you'd swear Nora is flirting with you- "Guess we make a good pair."

"I guess we -" 

You're cut off by Nora kissing you. Your arms flail a bit before finally settling on her waist. This is clearly a case of mis-matched timelines, but you're finding it hard to care. 

"...do," you finally finish once the kiss ends. "Um, when did - do - does us becoming-" you gesture back and forth between you and Nora- "uh,  _this_ , happen? 'Cause this is the first time we've kissed from my POV."

"The seventh time  _I_  run into  _you_ , I think, though it started before that" Nora answers. She purses her lip for a second. "This does explain a lot."

"Huh?" You're blaming the unexpected nature of the kiss for your inability to process Nora's words.

Nora smirks again. "You'll see." She activates her time stone and is gone in a flash. 

You press your fingers to your lips, still a little dazed. Sara has to call your name over the coms three times before you finally snap out of it.

 

 

3:

 

You're waiting for the others to meet you back at the jump ship when there's a bright flash of light. Once the spots disappear you can see Nora standing about fifteen feet away. A rare smile passes over her face as she takes in her surroundings. It's hard to tell if she's happy to be somewhere new or just happy to be here in particular. 

Nora's smile fades into shock, then annoyance, as she notices you watching. 

"Don't tell me the Bureau got you to follow me here," she says. 

"I'm sorry, what?" You ask. "Why d'you think that?"

Nora rolls her eyes and gestures widely. "Because you're at the first place I ended up after escaping their fairly shitty prison! Didn't think they'd placed a temporal tracker on me, but apparently they did."

"So, you just came from the prison? And the last time you saw me was in the Wild West?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it?" Nora's voice is tight. She shakes her head. "Thought you of all people would..." Nora walks over to you, holding her hands out for some reason. "Guess you were just giving me hope so you could rip it away."

You gently push her hands down. "No, no - that's not what's happening at all! This is honestly just a coincidence! I just said what I did because the last time  _I_  saw  _you_  was in 1950s Chicago. I only wanted to find out if our timelines were finally matching up. Nothing more." You smile at Nora. "Betraying you is the  _last_  thing I'd wanna do. I promise."

"...Uh-huh," Nora says disbelievingly. "Forgive me for not being able to trust you on that."

"That's okay," you reply with a shrug. "We barely know each other so I don't blame you." You tap your fingers against your thigh. "Um, I'm allergic to anything with fur, Singin' in the Rain is one of my favorite musicals, and I once had a pet snake named Slinky."

Nora just stares at you for the longest time. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you get to know me! You don't hafta reciprocate if you don't want to, but I would appreciate it."

"Of course you would," Nora mutters. "If I tell you some things, do you promise not to tell your friends I was here?"

You shrug again. "I wouldn't tell them either way if you didn't want me to, honestly." You change the rhythm of your tapping.

"Well... thanks. I guess." Nora bites her lip for a moment, briefly drawing your gaze downwards. "I'm only allergic to pollen, I've never seen a musical live, and I had a goldfish named Stella when I was little."

"Neat!" You smile wide. "Thanks for sharing that with me!" You check your watch. "I  _really_  hate to cut this short, but Sara and the others should be getting here any minute now. If you're sure you don't want to run into them, you should probably leave soon."

Nora nods, then pulls out the time stone. "Guess I'll be seeing you around."

"Looking forward to it!"

And then she's gone. 

 

 

4: 

 

You flinch as another  _crash_  echoes through the room and try to wedge yourself further into the corner. Plugging your ears doesn't help with the sound at all, nor is trying to hide away from it, but there's no way you can get up and walk away on your own. You've long since passed over-sensitized and a meltdown is right around the corner. The food fight you were supposed to be overseeing for the mission gets even  _louder_  somehow, causing a whimper to escape your lips. 

"Ray?" Someone asks. "Are you okay?"

You grunt and shake your head, both as an answer and an attempt to get them to stop talking. 

"Stupid question. Can you talk?"

Another head shake. 

"...Okay." After a few seconds they ask, "Are you able to tell me what's wrong somehow?"

You just gesture to your ears. 

The person hums in realization after a moment, then starts chanting something. When they're done, you realize that the room is finally,  _blessedly_ , quiet. You look up to find the fight still going but completely silent, like someone has pressed a mute button. You also discover that the person who's been talking to you is Nora. Seeing her causes a weak smile to spread across your face. 

"Is it okay if I talk?" Nora asks. 

You reluctantly shake your head. 

Nora tilts her head, waves her hand, and then gestures to the gold letters appearing in mid-air. 

" _What about this_?" They read. 

You give Nora a shaky thumbs up. 

" _Good. Do you need anything else_?"

You pat the ground in front of you. 

" _You want me to stay_?" Nora asks through the letters. You nod. " _You wouldn't rather have me take us somewhere else_?" 

You tilt your hand back and forth before miming tapping a watch.

" _Sort of_?"

You do the wrist tapping gesture again. 

" _Maybe later_?" Nora guesses. 

Another thumbs up. 

" _Let me know_." 

You smile back, a little stronger this time.

" _Okay_ ," Nora "says". 

The two of you sit in wonderful silence as you struggle through your breathing techniques. You manage to avoid having a meltdown, but only just. After what feels like hours but could be minutes - sensory overloads always mess with your sense of time - you tap Nora on the shoulder, then mime walking with your fingers. 

" _You ready to go_?" Nora asks.  

You nod, then pretend to use your hands as a pillow. 

" _Back to your room on the Waverider, then_?"

You're in your room a second after you give Nora another thumbs up. You scramble for a notepad and paper and scribble a thank you on it. 

" _You're welcome_ ," Nora replies. " _Will you be okay if I leave? I don't want to run into your team just yet_."

" _Yeah_ ," you write. " _I just need to rest. Should be fine by tomorrow_." 

" _Good_."

Before Nora can leave, you step up to her and press a kiss to her cheek. She gives you a bewildered look when you back away. You just smile in response.

Nora shakes her head and activates the time stone. 

 

 

5:

 

"N-Nora?" You have to force yourself to get the words out. Your vision is starting to go black around the edges. "Y'kay?"

She gives you an incredulous look. "Am  _I_  okay?  _You're_  the one suffering from blood loss!" Nora pulls off her sweater and presses it to the heavy wound in your side. 

"Yeah, but..." You drag your leaden hand over so it rests on her wrist. "If I hadn't pushed y'outta th' way, you woulda died."

"Better me than you," Nora mutters. "You help people, you have a team that cares for you. I can't even get you back to your fucking ship."

You try to shrug but fail halfway through. "Not your fault it takes time t' re-" Your eyes droop shut. Nora presses the sweater roughly against your side, causing you to gasp in pain. "It takes time to recharge."

"And here I thought ten minutes was no time at all."

"Only seven left, right?"

"Six and a half, really." Nora shakes her head. "Only you could get deathly injured right after I show up."

"It's a gift an' a curse," you say. "An' - an' it wouldn't've been better if it was you. Y'got good in you. You're worth it."

"No, I -"

"Yes, you do." You force a smile. "Don't contra- contra- argue with a dyin' man."

"You're not going to die, so I can argue with you all I like," Nora says. "Where's your team? Can't you use your comm to tell 'em where you are?"

"Fell out during th' fight." Your eyelids begin to feel really heavy. "But I was 'sposed to check in ages ago, so..." Nora shakes you again. "So they should come lookin' soon."

You can't really feel your side anymore. Part of you knows that's not a good thing, but the rest of you is too relieved to not be in pain to care. And the rest of you is also  _begging_  you to give in to the encroaching blackness and fall asleep. But there's something you need to do first...

"C'n y'lean in, please?" You ask. 

"You're not thinking of giving me your last words, are you?" Nora retorts. "Because I'm not letting you do that. You're  _not_  dying."

"I won't. Promise."

Nora gets close enough that you can feel her breath on your skin. You muster up the remaining dregs of your energy to press a kiss to her lips. Then you let your eyes slip closed. 

...When you wake up, you're in the medbay and Nora's nowhere in sight. Her sweater is still in your lap. 

 

 

+1: 

 

"Me nearly dying?" You ask.

Nora winces subtly, then nods. "Me slapping you?"

"Yep! 1950s Chicago?"

"And your sensory overload?"

"In the forest glade? And then the zoo?" You confirm.

"Uh-huh," Nora answers. "Twin Towers, ice skating on the lake, and tripping over nothing?"

"Check, check, and check!" You smile wide. "That's pretty much everything, so I think we're good!"

Nora snorts. "About time." Before you can laugh, she adds, "And, no, that was not meant to be a pun." 

"Aw, shucks." You gently grasp Nora's hand and kiss it. "You want to celebrate by going on our first official date?"

"Haven't we already done that - twice?"

"Well, we did your first date with me and my first date with you, but we've never had a date that was both our first dates at the same time."

"That wasn't confusing at all." Nora smirks. "And that was sarcasm, by the way."

You shake your head. "I'm unable to detect it  _one_  time..."

"Three, actually."

"Okay, fine," you say with a laugh. "But, seriously, would you like to go on  _our_  first date?"

"You're really sure you want to date  _me_?" Nora asks. 

"Absatively posalutely!"

Nora stares at you for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. You join in, unable to help yourself. When you both finally stop to catch your breath, you kiss her. You cradle her face in your hands and keep them there when you pull back.

"Seriously though," you answer, "I do. I  _promise_." 

Nora kisses you. "I don't know if I'll ever understand why..." She kisses you again when you begin to protest. "But I'm not going to fight you on it."

"I can live with that."

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the following River Song quote: "Trouble is, it’s all back to front. My past is his future. We’re *travelling in opposite directions*. Every time we meet I know him more, he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him. But I know that every time I do he’ll be one step further away. The day’s coming when I’ll look into that man’s eyes—my Doctor—and he won’t have the faintest idea who I am. And I think it’s going to kill me."


End file.
